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Brothers Help Each Other at LivingWell
Geneva resident Russell Witek thinks of Living-
Well the way some people think of Las Vegas.
“What you say at LivingWell, stays at LivingWell,”
he says. “It is a place where you can express
yourself…I go there as much as possible.”
Fourteen-year-old Russell was diagnosed with
acute lymphocytic leukemia a day shy of his
fourth birthday. Pale and tired, he was initially
admitted to Children’s Memorial Hospital in
Chicago with all of the symptoms of a low red
blood count. “He had been a ring bearer in his
uncle’s wedding the day before and had to be
bribed down the aisle with licorice,” his mom
Karen remembers.
While chemotherapy initially put the leukemia in
remission, Russell did have a relapse that required
a stem cell transplant. Even so, by the end of the
summer of 2001 the seven-year-old was playing
soccer and baseball, and in 2005 celebrated five
years of being cancer free.
Unfortunately, the reprieve would not last. His
now eighteen-year-old brother Garrett remembers
when the family learned that the sinus
infections, dizziness and headaches that Russell
experienced in the summer of 2007 were due to
a brain tumor. “My mom and I were on a youth
group trip in Wisconsin when we first heard, she
went back and I stayed on…but it was hard to
think of much else after that point.”
Russell had brain surgery to remove the tumor, but
had to have another surgery this summer when it
re-grew. “I wasn’t angry, but just impatient,” he
says. “When I found out it was back all I wanted
to do was to hurry up and get rid of it again.”
According to Russell and Garrett, neither spend a
lot of time dwelling on cancer outside of Living-
Well. There, the two attend art classes, and
Russell participates in several support groups.
“The people there understand,” says Russell. “If
you haven’t had cancer you might get some of it,
but is it hard to really relate unless you’ve been
through it yourself.”
For Garrett, LivingWell has also been a place
to be understood. “One of the hardest things
that I’ve ever done was walk into LivingWell
the first time, because I didn’t think I needed to
talk about it. I wasn’t sure I wanted to express
myself,” he remembers, saying it was his mom
that encouraged him to go. “What I learned
is that what LivingWell does best is help those
who don’t think that they need help. Sometimes,
mom does know best after all, and you can quote
me on that.”
The two brothers are close, so it makes sense
that LivingWell has become something they do
together. “We shared a bedroom for 13 years,
so I guess that means we get along,” Garrett says
with a smile, giving his brother a playful kick at
the same time. “The fact that he has had cancer
has definitely changed me, and I know it will
affect the choices I make my whole life through.
When I am with other family members at Living-
Well, it’s obvious that is the case with them as
well.”
When you ask about their academic interests,
Russell shares that his favorite school subject
is Christian history—while Garrett is currently
taking a college-level sign-language interpreting
class that he favors. But both of the boys agree
about one thing: the value of LivingWell for
support. “I would just challenge those with
cancer to try it once if they are not sure,” says
Russell. “They will feel at home there, I know
they will.”